Thursday, September 11, 2008

I don't pretend that the horrible, horrible events on Sepember 11, 2001 weren't felt around our country in deeply personal ways, but I seriously doubt that people outside of the Metro NY area felt it the same way that New Yorkers did. The casualty impact was heaviest here. There was one woman from our city who was murdered that day. In the surrounding towns, there were 5, 6, 8 people (mostly fathers of young children) murdered that day: people who went to work and didn't come home.

I live about 15 miles from Lower Manhattan as the crow flies. I remember that day was supposed to be the day NYC elected a new mayor. It was Rudy's last term and it was a bitterly fought election to see who would succeed him. I was watching the news and they came on saying a plane had hit one of the twin towers. Then the second plane hit and I distinctly remember thinking (Because I am extremely naive), "Boy, someone at Newark Airport really messed up." Then I talked to my mom who enlightened me, "This is no accident." I spent the whole day just walking around in a daze. This doesn't happen in the US. Scott was thinking I should try to get out of town with our 9 month old Primo. Go further west in the state since there are oil refineries in our city. What if those guys hit them next?

September 12 dawned a beautiful day. Except for this haze. This haze that hung over our city was from the still smoldering rubble of the towers I used to be able to see against the sky from the Parkway overpass near our house. This haze had a smell that has burned itself into my nostrils: death. The death of thousands of innocents. Thousands of people who showed up on time for work that day and the hundreds of people who tried to save their bodies and their souls from the fire.

Please remember those who gave so much that day: those who died and those who were injured and those who are still walking around in a daze, all these years later. Please pray for those who are working so that we can once again say,"This doesn't happen in the US."

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Read this today when I should have been making lunches and I thought that all of this education legislation that the candidates are talking about just totally misses the point. They talk a good game about raising test scores and making American kids more competitive internationally. But kids whose parents are actively involved in their educations do better than kids whose parents are not involved (by choice, circumstance, whatever). Kids who have someone home with them when they get home from school do better than latchkey kids.

You can't reasonably expect teachers to raise test scores all by themselves. What is taught at school needs to be reinforced through homework and through the parents and teachers working together.

So, what are McCain and Obama going to do about making it possible for more parents to get involved?? What will they do to support the family so that more parents can be there for their kids instead of working 3 jobs to pay the bills?

Want to learn more about the NOLA trip?

For the article that my husband wrote for the Morris County edition of the Daily Record (appeared May 10, 2009), click here. For the photos (and captions) he and some of the students took on the trip, click here. For the article which ran in The Metro (university newspaper), click here.

need a lift?

About Me

I'm Catholic. I'm married. I'm a mom. I blog. No big whoop.
The content and opinions posted on this blog is my own and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of St. John the Apostle Church, the Archdiocese of Newark, their clergy or their lay staff. Content is copyrighted. Don't steal.